news from kenya
BULIMBO
I thank Almighty God for His love and glory in bringing us together as one family in Christ. We must put our trust in knowing that when we die, or when the Lord Jesus returns, we have been promised a place in God’s Kingdom and we have no need to be frightened. We should always recall that great and precious promise. Many people today are concerned as to their future prosperity, no longer considering the things of God.
Bro. Sadique Juma
BUNGOMA
We have valued your assistance in the form of Bible literature, particularly Bible Basics in both English and Kiswahili, which have given us a new venture and in fact an easy way of reading and understanding the entire Bible. I received the book “The Real Christ” by Bro. Duncan Heaster and this has actually tried to answer the questions which have formerly puzzled me and which I raised in my letters concerning Jesus and the Law of Moses, God’s plan in Christ and Christ’s clear picture and image of Him in person. In Luke 6:40 we are told that when a disciple is perfected in the Word of God he shall be like his Master and Paul in his letters spoke about, “Jesus, who is our hope.” This Biblical literature has given us and most others in our country an added opportunity to study the Bible for ourselves as it helps us to help others who have not got the chance to get this good and true Word of God. In any case it has given us clearance for the preaching of the Gospel.
Bro. Martin Sibolo Situma
Here, my family and I are enjoying life happily in our Elder Brother, Jesus Christ. Many thanks for sending me “Gospel News”. In Kenya, our homeland country, we are living happily but the people of Kenya are fighting to get a peaceful life through voting to change the old Constitution and get a new Constitution and they think they are succeeding but I know that things are still hardening.
I am continuing to look forward to preaching the gospel. Jesus said the truth, “Behold I come as a thief; blessed is he that watches and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.” (Rev.16:15). So let us watch for him to come. I would be grateful if you would please send me a Bible.
Bro. Maina George Wabwile
Bro. Maina George Wabwile
DAGO
Some fundamental points on what the Bible teaches about God.
a) There is one God, not three, as others believe. Deut.32:39.
b) He is the immortal Creator and from everlasting to everlasting.
c) God sees and know all things. Psalm 139:1-24.
d) God is righteous and loving.
e) God has revealed His purpose in the Bible.
f) The power of God is described as God’s Spirit.
g) The Scriptures were written by God’s Spirit. 2 Tim.3:16.
h) Jesus was born as a result of the action of the Holy Spirit of God upon Mary. Luke 1:30-35.
i) It is very important to our salvation that we should understand the nature of God Almighty by reading prayerfully the Bible daily.
Bro. Raphael Joni Aimo
ELDORET
I am exploring the book, “The Real Devil” by Bro. Duncan and I do agree that it is well written and very good.
We read in the Psalms, “Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me in a level path, because of my enemies.” Ps. 28:7, “The Lord is my strength and my shield, my heart trusted in him and I am helped, therefore my heart greatly rejoices.” Ps. 25:4-5, “Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation.” Ps. 97:5, 9. “The hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord……For you, Lord, art high above all the earth, you are exalted far above all gods.
Bro. Jacob Okoth
ISHIARA
Thank you for the letters and notes on day to day events and also the “Gospel News”, which helps us to learn more about other brethren and sisters all over the world. We always pray to our Almighty God to send His Son to restore His Kingdom on earth so that these worldly problems will disappear. In our country we are expecting rain but there seems to be only a little but all is in the purpose of God who has a plan for everything.
Sis. Caroline Aphaxard
KATITO
It is with profound sympathy that I have learnt of the falling asleep of Bro. Graham Scott Bacon of GPL Australia. We are going to miss him for his wise words in the League. Thanks to God for making it possible for Carelinks to reach all corners of the globe with the Gospel because it is not easy to get baptisms in Islamic nations like Iraq, Iran etc. Nowadays I am behind with much news from around the world so please send as much as you can for me. My prayers go to all around the Mission areas in these difficult and tempting times before Christ’s return. I really support the many ways to relieve suffering as suggested by Sis. Esther Worell (Canada) in Gospel News.
Bro. Lawrence Kowiti
KISUMU
Although Jesus had told his disciples that He would die but after three days He would be raised to life by His Holy Father, they could not believe. When Mary Magdalene learnt that the stone was removed from the tomb she could not remember what the Scripture said and she thought that somebody might have taken the body and laid it somewhere else. “They have taken away my Lord and I do not know where they have laid him.” John 20:13.
LaterSimon Peter and other disciples went back to the lake. “They went out and got into the boat but that night they caught nothing.” John 21:3. The disciples did not recognise Jesus when he was on the sea shore. When Jesus told them to cast the net on the other side of the boat and they caught such a lot of fish that they could not haul the net into the boat, they realised that He was Jesus. John 21:6.
Thomas, one of the twelve disciples, when told by the other disciples that they had seen Jesus alive, would not believe unless he could see and touch Him. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Now for you and me, my dear brethren and sisters, are we able to recognise Jesus? Remember all those people were with Jesus for three years, but we believe because of the Scripture, yet we have never seen Jesus. Let us remember His words that He may come like a thief and thieves either come at night, daylight, when sleeping or when you are away on a journey. Let us take care and be able to recognise Jesus.
Bro. Richard Oduma
LURAMBI
It is with much honour to our Lord Jesus Christ that we at Lurambi Ecclesia send many greetings to all our fellow readers. We are indeed eagerly awaiting our Lord Jesus Christ at His second coming, to establish an everlasting Kingdom here on earth. It will be a great pleasure for all of us to be in that Kingdom to rule with Him in righteousness.
I would like to thank you for your letter and the good lessons like repentance, whether I should vote, marriage and also the Bible Planner which is very new in my ecclesia. As I am the only brother among 65 members of my ecclesia who has a copy, please send more copies, if possible, to uplift our brothers and sisters to read the Word more carefully. We would like to thank you for all the support you are giving us to enable our friends and even our young ones to know the Word of God that is the basis of our Christian foundation. We do appreciate the Bibles that you have sent so that more can understand the Will of God to mankind through Bible reading, study and teaching one another. The Gospel News, Bible Basics, Present Day Events and other literature have inspired us and given us spiritual food. We do thank you, brother, and pray that God will bless C.A.T. abundantly to enable it to carry out this work of feeding the flock.font>
Bro. Anthony Wafula
Bro. Anthony Wafula and his wife, Sis. Rhoda
MOMBASA
I have much pleasure in reading my brothers’ and sisters’ articles from all over the world. We read in 1 Cor.1:9-10, “God is faithful, by whom we were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ, we should speak the same thing, having no divisions, be perfectly joined together in the same mind.” We are further exhorted regarding how we should walk in Eph.4:1-6. In this universe we are a really small, little flock and it is God’s pleasure to give us the Kingdom, Luke 12:32. I like that verse in fact. We must not be slow; let us teach and preach to the people the faith and foundation of the WORD of God.
As you mentioned, I fully agree with you that many brothers and sisters and even our hopeful friends do not have Bibles, it is the one way of preaching. Let no one say that they had no Bible to read. May the Heavenly Father bless you for the thought of providing New Testaments, for those who do not have them. As we read in Psa.68:11, “The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it.”
Bro. Edward Kunikina
MUHORONI
Kindly receive greetings from Muhoroni Ecclesia. They are happy and blessed with the Gospel News.
Bro. Sylvester
NAITIRI
I am from Nyange Ecclesia and I take this opportunity to thank you for the good work you are doing in uplifting me spiritually through the Gospel books that you send to Bro. Haron Nasongo. We have been sharing these books as I am preparing for baptism.
Chrispinus Juma
NAKURU
We await the future ruler of the Kingdom of God. We are all fine in our ecclesia. Since there are signs of Christ’s coming we should double our efforts in the Lord’s vineyard.
Bro. Samuel Watako
NYANGE
We in Nyange Ecclesia would like to express our gratitude and interest in what you are intending to do for us. Many members of the ecclesia have been undergoing difficulties during Bible studies due to lack of personal copies of the Bible. We hope that your idea of supplying New Testament copies will make the work of spreading the gospel easier. Please keep remembering us with helpful items in order to make sure that we develop ourselves in preparation to receive our Lord Jesus Christ.
Bro. Adriano Wanjala
SINDO
I have been reading the editorial by Bro. Duncan Heaster, “Conflict and Reconciliation”, page 4. By forgiving our brother/sister we are judging righteously; we are in essence deciding our own judgment, which is to be revealed at the Lord’s return.
“THE MOST IMPORTANT DECISION IN MY LIFE”.
I was a former Roman Catholic, baptised as a child in 1954, confirmed later in 1963. Until 1975 my vision was to become a priest but the God of Israel never called me for that purpose. He had a plan for me; I spent six months attending mass in the city of Nairobi, early in the morning. When the time came for seminary, I applied but was not taken. I was always happy when I read the Bible and I felt comforted with God’s message of life through Jesus Christ, but one major issue disturbed me. I used to ask my mother, “Where do we go when we die?” – but never get a satisfactory answer.
One day in 1978 I saw an advertisement in Nairobi advertising a talk about the Christadelphian faith. I went along and met a brother, Epaphras Wekati and I was pleased to learn the Truth and able to take the Bible Course under his instruction and attended Bible discussions and the Memorial Service. I was given a test of faith by Bro. David Rowley from England and passed the interview. On 21st August 1978I was baptised in Nairobi City and made the most important decision in my life to become a follower of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. In conclusion, we read in Heb. 2:3, “How shall we escape, if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at the first by the Lord and it was attested to by those who heard.”
Bro. John Onani
SUNA MIGORI
Thank you very much for the editorial “Conflict and Reconciliation”. I am sure that all ecclesias in my region have been touched. They all know what we have gone through following some changes in ecclesial management. God is using you to reach His people in a very special way.
Bro. Joseph Onyango
TONGAREN
Our Ecclesia has nine brothers and 14 sisters with 25 Sunday School children and five contacts or friends. The books of Daniel and Revelation prophesied the coming events of our days and that is why I need the definition of the books in detail. I am still waiting to see if Bro. Malcom can send me the books you requested for me. Tongaren Ecclesia is very interested in the Bukusu language. We are the only ecclesia in our area which operates its meetings in the local rather than the national language. Brothers like to read and exhort in Bukusu language, which is why the ecclesia has asked for Bukusu Bibles. Can you please help us?
According to world events, in our area, to kill someone is now no new thing. Nowadays we have seen people killing each other every week – a man killing his wife or a woman killing her husband. This proves that we are actually in the last days as the Bible prophesied. May Jesus come quickly to save the situation so that we may enter into his Kingdom.
Let us praise Almighty God for the work He has done to enable the printing of the New Testament, and put in some definitions of the verses on Bible topics, so that others may find Bible truths. Some Bible verses are very difficult to understand and because of this many people do not agree with each other. This is why we have got one Bible and many different churches. Yes, brother, you have done very well to try to protect the truth of the Bible and our belief in it.
Siko-Tail Craft School in conjunction with Tongaren Ecclesia has implemented some regulations that all newcomers for training should agree to attend Sunday services while in training. We now have over 20 experienced trainees in the first term but many drop out in the second and third terms. This is why we need 20 Bibles for the Tailoring School. In the attached photo are some Siko-Tail trainees in the Ecclesia. A trainee, Sis. Irine Sikolia is demonstrating to others how to fix a zip on a long trouser. On her left is Ruth Wanjala of Namunjiri and Wilkister Cheloti of Makhonge. Displayed are training materials which we received recently from CAT for training purposes. We are expecting to baptise some of the trainees, so may God, help us so that we may baptise some.
Bro. Isaac Kapa
Sis. Irine Sikolia demonstrating to students.
TURBO
Thank you very much for the parcel of Bible Basics, etc. These books are now helping us very much in the work of Bible proclamation. On 16th November we had a very big congregation for Bible Study in the house of a friend, Mary Muhonja Imbuka, who is chairlady of a C.B.O. group at Kiminini. After the discussion many of the friends were very happy and decided to continue with the Bible Study. I, Bro. Emmanuel Milimo, was the first teacher and taught about two topics – The Table of the Lord and the Kingdom of God and Bro. Martin Barasa then taught about Fellowship. Those topics amazed the multitude and the Bible Basics manual assisted us very much with answering questions. Most of our friends requested the Bible Basics in Kiswahili and also Swahili.
The Mother and Child C.B.O.has six hundred members and Bro. Martin and myself have been asked to conduct Bible Study once a month. The distance from Turbo to Kiminini is about 80 kms. The materials you send me are helping the brethren and friends too. We need your prayers and more materials. Mother and child members are mostly widows and orphans. Enclosed is a photo of leaders of a group and ourselves, seated from right to left in first row, Bro. Martin Basara, Bro. Emmanuel Milimo and Chairlady Mary Muhonja Imbuka, who is urging us to continue teaching the group.
Bro. Emmanuel Milimo
People at the Kiminini meeting
WEBUYE
The effort to present the living truth to others who are seeking salvation is a challenging venture first to our way of life so that the same results are reaped in the lives of our interested friends who receive the message.
We hereby request the New Testaments, which as per example provided will prove informative to the seeker and presenter of the truth alike. Please kindly include five Bible Basics in English or Swahili if available.
Bro. Shawn Tyler
